Food prices were 11.3 percent higher in December 2022 than they were in December 2021, Stats NZ has announced.
This is the biggest annual increase since April 1990, when food prices increased by 11.4 percent.
In December 2022, the annual increase was due to rises across all the broad food categories Stats NZ measures.
Compared with December 2021:
*grocery food prices increased by 11 percent
*fruit and vegetable prices increased by 23 percent
*restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food increased by 7.8 percent
*meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 11 percent
*non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 7.3 percent.
Grocery food was the largest contributor to this movement.
“Increasing prices for cheddar cheese, barn or cage-raised eggs, and potato chips were the largest drivers within grocery food,” consumer prices manager, James Mitchell said.
The second-largest contributor to the annual movement was fruit and vegetables.Items within this group that influenced this the most were kiwifruit, potatoes, and tomatoes.
